4/21/18
We arrived to the small airport of Fakarava and were driven to our bungalow outside of town on a very nice beach. Fakarava is another large atoll in the Tuamoto archipelago composed of skinny motus (strips of sand). We were welcomed to our bungalow with kisses and leis. We watched the sunset from the beach in front of our bungalow. Our bungalow is super cute. Traditional and open air, right on the beach. It has a coral floor and shell and coral decorations inside. The roof is traditional thatch and the sea breeze comes in at night. We have an open air communal place to cook on the beach, plus 2 hammocks right outside of our cabana. There are 2 really cute cats and 5 or 6 friendly dogs to keep us company. From the bed, you can look out the front door and see the beautiful blue lagoon, and out of the back window, you can hear the surf from the open ocean crashing onto the reef, as the motu is only about 150 meters wide at this spot. Man, think of if there's a cyclone or tsunami here!
At night it was super beautiful to see the moon reflected on the still lagoon. The family was very friendly and it was "Papi's" birthday. They opened a coconut for us to drink and eat.
4/22/18 EARTH DAY!!
We had breakfast (included in our place) on the beach. We had a slight bummer because the excursion we wanted to do wasn't going (no people or it was Sunday?). So we stayed all day at the beach and bungalow, reading, swimming, and trying to decide if I would take the lab job or not. The other choice was giving up the lab job and applying for the environmental job. We also made a cool Happy Earthday sign out of coral to put on the beachside picnic table. All in all, it was a nice day lounging by the gorgeous blue lagoon. I cooked some macaroni bolognese for dinner as we enjoyed a nice sunset. Around midnight, by light of the moon, I wrote an email to Megan saying I was declining the offer for the crary lab. We decided I would try to get the enviro job, and if I didn't, then that would be a sign to ski bum the next year, but if I got the job, it would be a sign to get back to Antarctica.
4/23/18
We walked to the ocean side in the morning. We then took a boat trip to Lagoon Bleu, which was really great. The water of course was super beautiful and the blue lagoon was a fabulous area of shallow water, sand bars, and all colors of the most gorgeous blue. A true paradise! We were served fresh fruits, juice, cold coconuts, fried coconuts, and raw clams with lime. They also gave us a cold hinano beer as we sat in chairs in the water of the lagoon. True island honeymoon style! From the boat we saw eagle rays, blacktip sharks, and a turtle. We cruised along a chunk of the atoll, and we stopped to snorkel 4 times, all at really nice places. The water was very clear, and the atoll had really good and healthy coral formations. The best so far that we had seen in French Polynesia. There was of course tons of tropical fish, including some large groupers. We saw some turtles snorkeling, but the highlight was all the sharks! There were so many! Mostly it was grey reef sharks, but some white-tipped reef sharks. Wherever you looked, they were there!! Elisha was scared, and she often clung to me in fear. So awesome!
After the tour, we said goodbye to the family, they gave us shell necklaces, and then we caught a flight to Papeete with a stop at Rangiroa along the way.
We arrived to the small airport of Fakarava and were driven to our bungalow outside of town on a very nice beach. Fakarava is another large atoll in the Tuamoto archipelago composed of skinny motus (strips of sand). We were welcomed to our bungalow with kisses and leis. We watched the sunset from the beach in front of our bungalow. Our bungalow is super cute. Traditional and open air, right on the beach. It has a coral floor and shell and coral decorations inside. The roof is traditional thatch and the sea breeze comes in at night. We have an open air communal place to cook on the beach, plus 2 hammocks right outside of our cabana. There are 2 really cute cats and 5 or 6 friendly dogs to keep us company. From the bed, you can look out the front door and see the beautiful blue lagoon, and out of the back window, you can hear the surf from the open ocean crashing onto the reef, as the motu is only about 150 meters wide at this spot. Man, think of if there's a cyclone or tsunami here!
At night it was super beautiful to see the moon reflected on the still lagoon. The family was very friendly and it was "Papi's" birthday. They opened a coconut for us to drink and eat.
4/22/18 EARTH DAY!!
We had breakfast (included in our place) on the beach. We had a slight bummer because the excursion we wanted to do wasn't going (no people or it was Sunday?). So we stayed all day at the beach and bungalow, reading, swimming, and trying to decide if I would take the lab job or not. The other choice was giving up the lab job and applying for the environmental job. We also made a cool Happy Earthday sign out of coral to put on the beachside picnic table. All in all, it was a nice day lounging by the gorgeous blue lagoon. I cooked some macaroni bolognese for dinner as we enjoyed a nice sunset. Around midnight, by light of the moon, I wrote an email to Megan saying I was declining the offer for the crary lab. We decided I would try to get the enviro job, and if I didn't, then that would be a sign to ski bum the next year, but if I got the job, it would be a sign to get back to Antarctica.
4/23/18
We walked to the ocean side in the morning. We then took a boat trip to Lagoon Bleu, which was really great. The water of course was super beautiful and the blue lagoon was a fabulous area of shallow water, sand bars, and all colors of the most gorgeous blue. A true paradise! We were served fresh fruits, juice, cold coconuts, fried coconuts, and raw clams with lime. They also gave us a cold hinano beer as we sat in chairs in the water of the lagoon. True island honeymoon style! From the boat we saw eagle rays, blacktip sharks, and a turtle. We cruised along a chunk of the atoll, and we stopped to snorkel 4 times, all at really nice places. The water was very clear, and the atoll had really good and healthy coral formations. The best so far that we had seen in French Polynesia. There was of course tons of tropical fish, including some large groupers. We saw some turtles snorkeling, but the highlight was all the sharks! There were so many! Mostly it was grey reef sharks, but some white-tipped reef sharks. Wherever you looked, they were there!! Elisha was scared, and she often clung to me in fear. So awesome!
After the tour, we said goodbye to the family, they gave us shell necklaces, and then we caught a flight to Papeete with a stop at Rangiroa along the way.
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